Douxamère
by Hashkorns
Summary: The team are in a town struggling to get over Aeris's death when a deranged serial killer manages to kidnap Tifa. Cloud and the team have to find and save her before her time runs out. Advice needed. Please leave a review on the way out.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Rainy Town

They were staying in a small motel in a small, rainy town. Actually, they've been staying there for the past few days. Most of the group was avoiding seeing each other – always having an excuse to be somewhere else. Red XIII, Cait Sith, and Yuffie were the only ones that could look her in the eye whenever she spoke to them. They all felt lost, hopeless and worst of all: defeated. A week ago, Aeris would be with them. Cheering them up like the little ray of sunshine that she was. But Aeris was gone now. Sephiroth saw to that.

Tifa sighed and ran a hand through her long silky brown hair.

Cloud had been the one that took it the worst. He hadn't spoken to them, much less look at them. The minute they checked into the motel, he went upstairs and locked himself in his room. Tifa had tried in vain to get him to come out or at least to talk to her about it, but all her efforts were rebuffed with cold silence.

"He's in a lot of pain isn't he?" she whispered to herself.

Nanaki or Red as his companions liked to call him, lifted his head up from its comfortable position on his folded paws and gazed at the martial artist with his bright orange eyes. His sharp ears had heard Tifa's soft words without much difficulty. "You have to give him his due time. He'll come around eventually." _Hopefully_, he thought to himself, not wanting to make Tifa feel any worse.

"It's just…it feels like I can't do anything for him." she replied, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"You can't. He has to deal with it by himself."

Cait Sith watched the bleak exchanging of words between his two friends from his spot on the rough-seated couch next to Tifa. Even though he was merely a stuffed puppet, Cait still felt a little guilty. The last words he had spoken to Aeris were that she was totally compatible with Cloud. At that thought, the gray cat covered his eyes with his hands and gave a soft whine.

Tifa reached over and scratched the area behind his ears. Even puppets have their soft spots.

Outside the dreary, morbid atmosphere of the motel was an even gloomier town. Its citizens paranoia was at a level even Yuffie couldn't compare to. It seemed like the whole town had a set time as to when they could go outside and when they were to remain locked indoors. They had arrived a few days ago a little after sun rise. A fine, spooky mist enveloped the small town and not a single soul was in sight. At first glance, the eerie silence would have lead one to thought that the town was uninhabited but when Yuffie accidentally kicked down someone's front door when she was 'just checking if anybody lived there', they were surprised to find the whole town to be very alive. They didn't take well to having strangers; especially the likes of Red XIII, Cait Sith and some even had doubts about Vincent. It took an entire mob to get Cloud to finally step up and say that they wanted a place to stay at for a few days. Maybe it was his cold mako blue eyes or the large sword strapped to his back but in the next few minutes they had managed to score a few rooms at the motel they were in now. After the first day, they got the hang of the towns' time schedule: 9:00 A.M. meant it was okay to unlock your doors and start the morning, 6:00 P.M. meant to scurry to the building nearest you and lock up. The motel receptionist had refused to say more or give any reasons as to why things were that way.

Not that they cared anyway.

The storm outside that had started mid-afternoon just got worse about an hour ago. Heavy rain drops smashed against the surface of the town, creating a loud pitter-patter that would make it impossible for anyone to sleep. Save maybe the motel receptionist sitting on his chair propped on its back legs, snoring loudly with his large spectacles hanging off one ear.

Lightning flashed outside followed by a loud boom a few seconds later.

She could hear Barret mumble loudly from his room upstairs. Having him and Cid share a room was a big mistake. If the two had constantly been at each others' throats before, Aeris's death only made things worse. They couldn't be within six feet of each other before Cid would jibe at Barret, calling him a marshmallow and the larger, dark-skinned man would yell an angry swear word in retort. But with the small number of rooms available and the fact that Cloud had a room to himself, there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

And God knows where Vincent disappears to at night. Tifa only sees him during breakfast and even then he doesn't stick around for too long.

Maybe even Vincent needed to get always from all the sadness evident in this motel.

There was a loud patter of footsteps outside and Tifa broke out of her miserable reverie when a chocobo outside gave a sudden loud shrill. Somebody knocked on the door loudly and called, "Could somebody please open the door?" over the rain.

The motel receptionist snorted.

Tifa looked over at the door. The windows were running with rain water and it was impossible to see who was outside.

The person outside knocked louder and this time the chocobo aided in the knocking when a loud chink-chink noise of beak against wood was heard. "Hey! I know you're open. I can see the fire from inside! Open up!"

Tifa glanced over at the middle-aged receptionist to see that he woke up during the first knocking but was now pretending to be asleep.

Red XIII growled softly and Tifa shot the pot-bellied man a glare before unlocking the many locks installed upon the door and opening the door to let whatever poor soul it was inside.

The cold wind blew the heavy droplets inside, wetting the doormat instantly and at that the receptionist dropped all pretenses. He sat up straight in his chair and looked stupidly at his new guest.

Tifa stepped back to let the stranger in but when they were inside the warm room and the light from the fire gave her a clearer image of the person, she arched a brow. He certainly had a strange way of dressing.

He was an inch or two shorter than herself, perhaps even shorter than Yuffie. A mop of ash blue hair matted down from the rain hung in front of his notable amber eyes. He looked like he couldn't have been more than thirteen years old. He was wearing a short sleeved trench coat with a large hood that was cleaning stubbornly to the back of his head, though in the rain, that kind of trench coat was virtually useless. It had a high collar and was fastened with a button. What was strange was from what she saw of the hood, it had a pair of short stub horns and the face of an oni if the wearer were to pull the hood completely down. She noticed the guitar case on his back and couldn't help but wonder if he was some kind of traveling rocker.

At the moment, the boyish yet extremely pale face looked up at her in mild annoyance. "Could you, like, move or somethin'? I can't get in with you in the way."

Tifa blushed lightly at having been caught staring. "Sorry."

The boy turned around and tugged at his chocobo's reins. When the receptionist saw that he was trying to pull his chocobo inside he stood up and yelled, "Oh no, no, no, no. It's bad enough that we already have two animals in here. Leave the oversized chicken outside!"

Red huffed at being considered an animal and the chocobo clucked angrily at the insult.

"Are you kiddin'? I can't leave Elvis outside in that rain."

"Look, kid, I don' care if it's Johnny Cash, or hell Madonna! You ain' bringin' no chocobo inside here motel."

The boy ignored any further statements from the receptionist and pulled his chocobo in, kicking the door close with a mud-covered boot.

"Hey!" the man called, not liking being ignored by the midget of a runt that suddenly thinks he's running the place.

"Relax, old man, I'll clean the place up in the morning. I'll even pay extra." the boy said, dropping the guitar case to the floor and peeling off his trench coat and placing it with its backside facing up on top of the couch closest to the fire.

The receptionist mulled over the idea before settling back into his chair and folding his hands across his large stomach. "Just make sure that thing doesn't bother the other guests." He closed his eyes and resumed snoring.

"I'll have you know that Elvis is civilized. Right, boy?" He removed the reins and bit from his chocobo's mouth and scratched the area beneath his beak.

Tifa watched with amusement from her couch opposite the boy. She almost forgot that he was completely soaked and went to fetch a towel. "Here, you might want to dry off."

He turned around and Tifa got a good look-over of him. He was thin from what she saw with his shirt clinging to him. His black pants sagged and if it weren't for the large belt around his waist, it most definitely would've slide off. He was covered with mud up to the knee and he took the towel from Tifa gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks."

Elvis shook the water from his feathers and settled in a corner of the room near Red.

Tifa could've sworn she saw the receptionist sleep-glaring when the rain water from Elvis's feathers drenched the carpeted area of the lobby.

Drying his wet hair, he pulled the towel off his head and Tifa hid a smile. The way his hair stuck out in different directions reminded her of Cloud's untamable spikes.

Cloud…

"Here, thanks for the towel, Ms…Ms? Are you all right?"

Tifa snapped her head up in surprise. "Oh um, I'm fine." Brushing loose strands of hair behind her ear, she gave him a bright smile. "Tifa. Tifa Lockhart. Pleased to meet you." Taking his offered hand with the towel, she gave him a 'small handshake'. She missed his wincing as he practically tugged his smaller hand back.

"Er, Kaitzer DeLaKruz. Same here, pleased to meet you."

"And I am Nanaki. You may call me Red if you wish."

Tifa wasn't surprised to see Kaitzer yelp and almost jump three feet into the air. "I-it talks!"

Tifa smiled at them. "You've been giving people quite the scare lately huh, Red?"

The sole surviving member of his race frowned. "I don't mean to frighten you."

Taking deep breaths, the boy tried to pull off a face full of bravado. Needless to say, he failed miserably. "Frighten? Me? Pshaw, no. I was…just.. s-surprised. Yeah, that's it. Surprised."

Elvis clucked with a tone that suggested he was saying 'bull shit.'

Kaitzer ignored him.

Tifa giggled at the exchange. At least this was a distraction from the lapse of depression they've been going through these past few days.

"So I take it with that interesting jacket and guitar you have there, you're part of a rock band right?"

Kaitzer's face lit up and he took on a proud voice. "Yep. Los Loco Chocobos. Four singles and four awesome albums. We've been on creative hiatus for the past few years but I'm sure you've heard of us right?"

"No, sorry I haven't."

He looked crestfallen and Tifa was making a point to apologize when a small voice rich with a Scottish accent spoke up. "Augh, you lot better not have forgotten about me."

Kaitzer's eyes widened and he pointed a shaky finger at Cait Sith who was now standing up with his paws crossed across his chest, looking quite annoyed. "T-that thing talks too? I thought it was a toy!" His voice cracked at the end, again reminding Tifa of a boy going through puberty. It reminded her of the day Cloud's voice started getting scratchy and he tried to make himself sound more macho…

"Oy, lad, the name's Cait Sith. Not 'that thing' and I am most definitely not a toy!"

Seeing the incredulous look on Kaitzer and the tired sigh on Red, Tifa couldn't help but break out into a fit of giggles. Even with the storm raging outside and the internal conflict raging inside, tonight was turning out to be all right. Now if she could only get Cloud to get out of his room…

"I'm sorry about that, Cait. Didn't mean to make you feel left out." she said, covering her small smile with a hand and reaching out to scratch the toysaurus behind his ears.

"That's quite all right." Cait huffed, turning away from Tifa to face the mantel of the fireplace. But even he was no match for Tifa. Besides being great with kids, she knew exactly how to handle animals. Soon she had Cait curled up next to her purring.

"Cute," Kaitzer remarked leaning back into his couch, but not before his stomach gave a loud growl.

"Hungry?" Tifa asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, haven't eaten anything all day." Kaitzer blushed, trying to keep his eyes on the floor. He had been looking at her face the entire time. When the cat curled up next to her and she bent over a little to scratch his side, he couldn't help but notice her huge…erm…you know.

Tifa smiled to herself. Yep, a young boy going through the early stages of puberty. She stood up. "I'll go get you something to eat. Be right back." She gave him a quick wink that he returned with furious blushing.

Her beauty and charm seemed to work on every guy (save Barret, Cid and Vincent. She couldn't possibly begin to imagine) but the one that she actually wanted attention from – Cloud. All the previous joy leaked right out of her as she made her way upstairs to her room.

Quickly she shook her head. _You're treading into dangerous waters, Tifa._ She told herself. Aeris just died and now all she was thinking about was hooking up with Cloud.

"I'm so disgusting…" she whispered to herself.

Inside her room, there were two beds on opposite sides of the room and two lamps. Tifa turned to her roommate and sighed. Yuffie had rolled out of her bed again. The said female ninja was bundled tightly in her sheets and hanging an inch above the wooden floor, snoring ever so loudly and occasionally talking in her sleep.

"Zzzz….my materia. Get your fat greasy hands offa them, Barret….zz"

Best to leave her 'hanging', lest she disturb the young girl from her sleep. Grabbing her bag of provisions, Tifa returned to the lobby and tossed a bag of salty potato chips to Kaitzer. "I'm afraid chips and mineral water are all we've got."

"Better than nothing," he replied gratefully, ripping the bag open and stuffing a fistful of chips into his mouth.

Red and Tifa watched in silent fascination as the young boy devoured the entire bag and his chocobo pecked at the pieces that had fallen to the floor.

"Um…we have more, ya know." Tifa said, trying not to watch him lick the salt off the insides of the bag.

"Oh…sorry." He flushed and dropped the bag.

Outside lightning flashed again and thunder roared. Elvis tucked his head under his wing and whimpered. Red placed a sympathetic paw on the chocobo's wing.

Both Kaitzer and Tifa looked out the windows.

"This storm won't be stopping anytime soon. Guess you'll be stuck in here for a while." Tifa said, noticing his hand clench into a tight fist. "Is there somewhere you need to be?"

He turned around and stared into the fireplace. "Yeah. I'm…looking for someone."

"Who?" Tifa asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She realized that she was sounding a bit obtrusive and apologized. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."

Kaitzer shook his head. "No, it's all right. Actually," He glanced at the snoring receptionist. "I've been passing through this town for the past two years. I usually look in the areas outside of this town. You know the forests and the rocky caves."

Tifa nodded, though she didn't ask him why. The landscape outside of this town was harsh and filled with monsters. There was no way anybody could be living there.

"After a while, I would give up and come into town. Ask around. People here usually ignore me. Telling me to bring my troubles elsewhere. Telling me that they've got enough troubles. You know," his voice dropped to a whisper. "the receptionist won't tell you the reason why the town has a set time schedule, would he?"

Tifa and Red exchanged looks before Red sat up on his hind legs. "And why is that?"

Kaitzer's voice dropped even lower. "That's because there's some kind of psycho serial killer prowling around the area. At first, it started off with one or two people every couple a' months. Then it started getting worse. And the creepiest thing about it, he only targets pretty young girls."

"How do we know it's a man?" Tifa asked, feeling goosebumps growing on the back of her neck. No wonder the whole town was in a state of paranoia. Not to mention, on the day they had arrived, there had been a whole bunch of slaughtered chickens outside the house where Yuffie kicked down the door. They weren't safe here, and with Cloud in depression and Barret and Cid fighting amongst each other, things could get dangerous.

Kaitzer shrugged. "Who else would attack pretty girls? All I know for a fact is that he attacks houses randomly. The family of the victims all say that it happens way too fast and all they remember seeing are green specters flying around. I think they've just a lil' off their rocker."

"Green specters? That sounds like fun!" an excited voice near shouted from the top of the stairs.

Tifa and Red turned around to see Yuffie jump on the railing and slide down. The self-proclaimed 'greatest female ninja of all time' did a back flip and landed in between her friends and Kaitzer with her arms crossed across her chest and a furiously determined grin on her face. "So? Let's go nab that whacked sicko!"

The receptionist snorted loudly.

"And why would you want to do that?" Kaitzer looked curious.

"I'm bored. All this sittin' around and being mopey gets old after a while. I want to go outside and do something."

"Eh…mopey?"

Tifa looked up to see Kaitzer confused. "A friend…a very close friend of ours was kil-….died recently."

Yuffie was silent.

Red closed his eyes.

"Oh…" Kaitzer seemed like he didn't know what to say for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Feh, what are you apologizing for? It's not like you had anything to do with it." Yuffie said quietly.

There was an awkward silence before Red spoke up. "You heard everything we just said, Yuffie?"

Yuffie looked up and the sadness in her eyes dissolved. "Yep. Tifa woke me up when she closed the door on her way out. I'm a pretty light sleeper, ya know."

Red and Tifa looked at her unbelievingly.

"What? I am!"

"Right, Yuffie, whatever you say. " Tifa rolled her eyes. "I must have been mistaken that one time you slept through the entire night without a peep when wild hounds suddenly invaded our camp. And I do recall a certain female ninja was supposed to be on guard duty."

Yuffie seemed to have lost her buff for a few seconds before crossing her arms and looking away stubbornly. "S-so? Vincent took care of everything and nobody got hurt."

"Perhaps the next time you see our silent friend, you could refrain from calling him a vampire and keep your garlic to yourself?"

"Aw, Red, you know I was just havin' some fun!"

While the red lion shook his head, Yuffie turned towards the pale boy and pointed a finger at him. "You!"

"Me?"

"Person-that-I-don't-know-the-name-of, find me this psycho serial killer and I'll show him a good one-two beating from Yuffie Kisaragi!" Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and stuck her chest out and laughed loudly.

The receptionist picked his nose idly in his sleep.

"Like I said the guy attacks at random and there's no way to tell when or where he'll..."

A sudden loud scream from the building next door interrupted Kaitzer as he hopped to his feet. The receptionist suddenly seemed to be awake as well and he was shaking with fear. "I-it's…

"It's him," Kaitzer growled.

Yuffie grinned, pulling out her Twin Viper. "Then let's go kick some butt." The young ninja kicked down the door and rushed out into the rain before any of her friends could stop her.

"Yuffie!" Tifa called, before slipping on her Diamond Knuckles. She ran out into the rain followed by Red.

Kaitzer watched the girls and Red run past them silently before grabbing his trench coat and running out after them. "Elvis, watch the cat and the old man. Make sure nothing gets inside!"

The chocobo clucked in reply, placing his body in front of the front door.

"Yuffie, wait!" Tifa shouted over the pounding of the rain. "We don't know what we're up against."

But the young ninja had already dashed through the large hole next to the house's front door that was most probably made by the serial killer and into the room.

"That girl sometimes really…" Tifa began to herself but she couldn't finish her sentence as she arrived at the scene just in time to see the killer.

Those victims' family members were right. It was a green specter and there was more than one of them. They were hovering several inches off the floor and had their ghostly hands wrapped around a young girl about Yuffie's age. The specters seemed to be causing some kind of whirlwind inside the room and the smell…the bile rose in Tifa's throat. It was the smell of rotting flesh. One of the specters opened its mouth and emitted a shrill, high pitched scream that knocked Yuffie against the wall. While the ninja was stunned from the blow, the specter's hand stretched and shot towards Yuffie.

Red leapt in its way and using a material on his Gold Barrette sent a Fire spell at the specter. The magic attack barely grazed the apparition and it swatted Red out of the way a person would swat an annoying housefly. It didn't need this beast. It only needed young girls. The specter once again tried to reach Yuffie.

"Oh no you don't!" Tifa shouted, sending a flying kick at the specter.

However, her foot caught into the phantom's body and she was stuck. The specter shifted its body and Tifa was hanging upside down. Tifa squirmed in resistance and looked up in horror to see that the specter was swallowing her inside its body.

"Sorry but," Tifa pointed her palm at the specter. "You're not taking any of us." And she fired a Blizzard2 spell directly at where the specter's face should be. A mouth ripped open and the specter screamed, dropping Tifa.

Red bounded underneath the martial artist and used his body as a cushion for Tifa to land on.

"Thanks, Red." Tifa said breathlessly.

"No problem." The lion grunted, trying to show that she didn't hurt him as much as she did.

Kaitzer skidded to a stop in front of the house just in time to see the building's owners rush out, crying hysterically. His eyes widened at the sight of the screaming girl in two of the apparitions' grasps and a third one attacking Tifa and Red.

"Hang on, guys!" The boy reached into the back of his belt and pulled out a long, wound-up leather whip with a thick handle and a spiked tip and end. With a flick of the wrist, he had the whip wrapped around the two specters and the captured girl and swung into the room with his two feet out in front of him, ready to kick the third specter.

But the specter turned around just before impact and knocked Kaitzer flying and crashing into the wall. He landed with a thud, next to Yuffie who regained consciousness the minute Kaitzer hit the floor.

The ninja sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head. "Ugh, what happened?"

"Glad to see that you're still with us." Kaitzer said, as he too sat up. "Watch out!"

He pushed Yuffie out of the way a split second before Red came crashing in between the two of him.

"Gah! We're getting our butts kicked by some floating green jello?! No way!" Yuffie shouted, hopping to her feet.

Tifa stood determinedly in front of her three friends. The green specter eyed her and for a moment neither of the two did anything. And like any human being, Tifa couldn't stare at her opponent forever and she blinked. The green specter struck, fast as lightning, its elongated arm was within a foot of Tifa before a loud gunshot sounded and a speeding bullet tore through the specter's arm.

Tifa turned towards her savior and she beamed. "Thanks for the save, Vincent."

The silent gunslinger nodded before reloading. He leapt into the room, his golden, pointy-toed boats making a loud clacking noise. He eyed over the state his comrades and the stranger was in before raising his Shortbarrel at the specter. His crimson orbs narrowed before he unleashed an onslaught of bullets.

The specter screamed as the bullets tore through it and it let loose another screech attack which Vincent easily dodged by rolling to the side. The two specters' holding the captured girl placed itself in front of the injured specter, using the sobbing girl as a human shield.

Vincent glared at them for using such an underhanded tactic.

"The hell's goin' on here?!"

"See, I told you there was somethin' goin' on next door, but ya just had to be a stubborn lil' asshole 'bout it!"

"Ah shut it, ya big ugly marshmallow!"

"Hey, you senior citizens! Now ain't the time to be fighting like an old married couple." Yuffie shouted, waving her Twin Viper wildly in the air.

"Brat, watch out!" Cid shouted, his cigarette falling out of his mouth.

The specter, seemingly recovered from Vincent's attack, shot an arm out past Tifa towards the distracted Yuffie.

"Yuffie!" Red called, leaping in front of her, only to be knocked aside again.

Kaitzer rushed in front of her the minute Red was knocked away tried to block the specter's arm. Small tentacles began sprouting from the arm and wrapped themselves around his neck while other tentacles reached around him toward Yuffie. The ninja retaliated by twirling her Viper, snipping a few strands of hair from the back of Kaitzer's head in the process.

"Um…oopsie."

"Hey kids, ya better duck!" Barret shouted, raising machine gun hand and unleashed a powerful Big Shot at the specter's elongated arm.

Goo exploded and dripped harmlessly off Kaizter and Yuffie's shuriken. "Way tah go ya big marshmallow! You could've killed us!"

Instead of retorting against Yuffie's insults like he normally would have, Barret raced towards them. "Tifa, get out of the way!" He roared.

Vincent was there first along with Cid to stop the specter's other elongated arm from getting Tifa but for some reason, it passed right through Cid.

"The hell?" Cid muttered, checking to see if he was still in one piece.

Vincent fired several shots into the arm but was knocked back by a third arm that sudden sprouted from the specter's body.

Barret stood protectively in front of Tifa but like Cid, the arm passed harmlessly through the dark-skinned man and wrapped around the martial artist tightly.

"Hey! Keep yer goo to yourself!" Yuffie threw her shuriken but it caught onto the specter's arm like a stick in a pile of glue. "My Viper!"

"I'll get it back." Kaitzer, using Barret's back as leverage launched himself into the air just as the specter pulled Tifa into its body and begin to leave. Flicking his wrist expertly, the whip wrapped itself around all three specters, and he tugged. But instead of the whip cutting into the specters, his whip snapped and tore into pieces. "What?!"

He was knocked aside by a screech attack and into Barret and Cid. Vincent raised his gun and decided against it, lest he hit Tifa or the other girl. The specters tore threw the roof and disappeared into the storm.

"Tifa! We have to save Tifa!" Yuffie made to rush out the house, but Vincent grabbed the fluttering strands of her head band causing the young ninja's head to snap back.

"We can't do that, Yuffie."

"Why not! We can follow them! And then…and then…"

"And then what?" Vincent released the trembling girl. "We need to have a plan. We can't just charge blindly in like you did right now."

Yuffie spun around and looked towards Barret, Cid and Red for support. Barret kept his eyes on the floor as the rain dropped in from the hole in the ceiling. The water dripped down his face and he gritted his teeth, punching a large hole in the floor with his gun arm. "Damn it!" Cid was leaning against the broken door frame, trying unsuccessfully to light his cigarette in the rain. Red hung his head in defeat and Kaitzer was picking up the pieces of his broken whip.

Her lips trembled and the rain water stung her eyes. Without any shame, Yuffie broke out into a loud bawl. "F-first, Aeris and…and hic…now Tifa! Hic! Waaaah!"

Kaitzer looked over at the crying ninja, the rain once again matting his hair down. "She's not dead just yet," he said quietly. "He likes to play with them before he kills them."

Vincent and Barret looked over at the pale boy.

"You know about the killer?" Vincent asked, coldly. Barret and Cid approached the boy lest he tried to run.

"We're all in a real shitty mood now so ya better start singing, kid." Barret growled through gritted teeth, looking down upon Kaitzer with dangerous, narrowed eyes.

Kaitzer blinked the rain out of his eyes and looked up nervously at the hulking black man, as well as the other two men. He licked his lips and said, "W-well…"

* * *

_I couldn't save her…_

The blonde man threw another furious punch at the wall, making another indentation identical to the other one hundred. Gritting his teeth, he covered his eyes with his other hand, leaving his trembling fist inside the hole in the wall.

He could have saved her. He was right there. Right there in front of her! He could have moved. He could have stopped Sephiroth! He could have! He could have!

But he didn't…

"Why…am I so weak?" He whispered to himself.

There were loud steps of someone running up the stairs and stopping in front of his room. "Cloud!" Yuffie's voice shouted from the other side of the door.

Cloud remained silent.

"Cloud, we know you're in there! And you better come out now!"

Minutes ticked by without a word from the blonde ex-SOLDIER.

"I'm gonna kick down the door!"

"Yuffie." He finally said, his voice hard and cold edge. "Why can't you guys understand that I wish to be left alone? Why?" He near shouted.

There was silence before with a loud splintering sound, Cait Sith flew in screaming into his room. Cloud looked up with surprise before turning his cold mako blue glare toward the female ninja who still was standing with her arms out in a throwing position.

"Because Mr. I'm-brooding-leave-me-alone, Tifa's been kidnapped!" Yuffie stomped into the room followed by Red, Barret, and Vincent.

Cloud looked at the members of his team before settling his eyes on the floor between his feet. "So?"

"So we're going to save her and bring her back!" Barret lifted Cloud up off the edge of his bed and forcing him to stand up.

"I…" He couldn't look them in the eye anymore. "I can't save anyone. You guys go find her without me."

SMACK!

The men in the room looked in surprise as the young ninja delivered a ruthless backhand on the ex-SOLDIER. "Cloud, this isn't only about you! It's about all of us. We all feel bad that we couldn't do a thing when Sephiroth killed Aeris."

"But I was right th-"

"We're a team, spikey. We lose together and we win together. We've already lost Aeris, but we can't lose Tifa." Barret said, quietly. "And damn it, we can't save her without you." Cloud looked up to see the older man's eyes piercing into his own. He looked at the others in the room.

Vincent nodded solemnly at him.

Yuffie gave him a 'v for victory' sign.

Cait Sith, who was sitting atop Red's head, gave him a thumb's up.

"We believe in you, Cloud," Red said, giving the blonde man a fierce, fangy smile.

They believed in him…They trusted him to do what's right. He's already…lost Aeris. He'd only feel more guilt if he were to let Tifa die as well.

Cloud closed his eyes and when he opened them, the others knew that the Cloud that they knew and respected was back. His voice rang with determination "All right. Fill me on the details."

* * *

Tifa opened her eyes slowly. Her body was stiff and sore, like she had been stuck in the same position for a long time. Carefully she glanced around her prison. It was too dark and her vision was too hazy to see properly but she could tell that she was in a large room filled with nasty looking machines and in the center of the room was what looked like a surgery table. The captured girl was lying on it, covered only by a thin, blood spattered white sheet. She turned her head towards Tifa and gazed at her pleadingly with tear filled eyes. "Help me, please." 

Tifa wiggled her wrist and found that they were chained to the wall on either side of her head and her feet were chained together in one large manacle. Her gloves have been removed and her phone taken away. She struggled to break lose, but the rusty, old appearance of the chains were deceiving and they proved too strong for her to break. "Hang on," she whispered back. "I'll be right there."

"Ah, so you are awake now, mon doux(1)." Said a smooth, low voice laced with malice.

Tifa looked up and screamed.

End Chapter

1) mon doux: my sweet

Next chapter, the AVALANCHE team interrogates Kaitzer on what he knows about the serial killer and Tifa is subjected to torture.


	2. Chapter 2

Warning: This chapter will have a brief horror movie scene of corpses. So I guess this would make that one small part 'M'.

Chapter Two: Torture Chamber

Cloud glanced down at the pale boy sitting in the armchair in front of him with a cool, neutral expression. However, the stoic facade was actually masking a nervous, worried expression. The receptionist and the victims' family had refused to talk to any of them and proceeded to avoid the motel lobby and Vincent suggested that they first interrogate this Kaitzer character. From what he heard from his teammates, the boy couldn't be the one kidnapping the girls, but he could very well be in cahoots with the serial killer. Vincent had also told him about the way the boy had talked about the killer like he knew him personally.

The others were sitting in various places around the room, surrounding Kaitzer. Vincent and Cid were near the front windows, playing look out just in case the green specters decide to come back for Yuffie or anyone else. Yuffie was sitting on the floor cross legged with her back to the fireplace and Red and Cait on either side of her. Barret was standing next to Kaitzer just in case he tried to do anything suspicious. The large man was by far the least trusting of the boy.

"So," Cloud began. "mind telling us who you are?"

Kaitzer glanced at Yuffie and the other two sitting with her as if hoping that they would come to his aid before meeting Cloud's mako blue eyes with his amber ones. "Kaitzer DeLaKruz, former member of the rock band Los Loco Chocobos."

_DeLaKruz_. Cloud frowned inwardly. He's heard that name somewhere before.

"Really? Never heard of you." Yuffie said.

She was soon subjected to many glares of various degrees.

"What?"

All eyes returned to the nervous form of Kaitzer.

"What do you know of the green specters we faced off against?" Vincent asked.

Kaitzer glanced over his shoulder at the silent gunmen before shrugging. "I don't know much."

With his animal instincts, Red could smell whether a person is telling the truth or not and he was definitely smelling a lie now. He looked towards Cloud and shook his head. The ex-SOLDIER nodded at Barret whose gun arm immediately descended upon the boy's shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze, causing the boy to flinch.

"All right, kid, we really want our friend back safe and sound and we would really appreciate it if you would tell us the truth. Our furry friend over there can smell when you're lying, so you might find it a benefit to tell us the truth." Cloud said his voice cold and detached.

Yuffie shuddered, she knew that Cloud can be very cold, but she never knew that he could be downright scary when he was interrogating someone.

Barret released his vice grip and crossed his arms across his broad chest.

Kaitzer massaged his sore shoulder before saying, hesitantly, "He likes pretty young girls. It's because of him that this town is always on edge."

The blonde man's eyes met the red lion who nodded and Cloud's turned back to Kaitzer. "Continue."

"I don't know what those green specters are. All I know is that they capture the girls for him."

Cid turned around, a lighted cigarette burned halfway out dangling from his lips. "I've got a question fer ya. How come those damn specters go through me and marshmallow over there but they can knock you others away like a bunch of houseflies?"

"I don't know."

"Next question: are you associated with the killer himself." Cloud asked, noticing the way the boy immediately tensed up.

"No!" He shouted.

"You're a bad liar." Cloud stated before his blue eyes narrowed into a cold glare.

Kaitzer sighed and sunk back into the armchair. "I know. I …."

"Do you know where his hide out is?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't have been searching for it for two years." he said quietly.

"Hold on, you've been lookin' for the bastard?" Barret asked.

Kaitzer nodded. "Yeah…"

Elvis pined and tucked his head under a wing.

"I'm not sure, but I think he's the person I'm looking for."

Cloud arched an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

The boy sighed tiredly and mumbled a half hearted response. "A…close relative."

Yuffie gasped and Barret grabbed the boy's shoulder again, forcing him to look up. "So you are connected with him!"

"It's not what you think!" He shouted, a fist crashing down on the arm rest of the chair.

Vincent stepped towards him. "Then what is it."

"Revenge." Kaitzer raised his head and Cloud could see his amber orbs burning with anger.

The AVALANCHE members exchanged looks before Cloud said, "We need to a moment to discuss this. There's a bathroom down the hall. Why don't you go take a break."

"A long break," Yuffie added with what she thought was an air of mystique.

Again, glares were shot at her.

"What? It sounded cool!"

Kaitzer stood to his feet and walked down the hall, unsure of himself. He looked over his shoulder at them before disappearing into the bathrooms.

"Well? Do ya reckon he was tellin' th' truth? I thought I smelled a lie."

"Actually, Cid, that would be my job," Red replied, earning an annoyed look from the foul mouthed pilot. "He seemed to be telling the truth."

"Seemed?" Cloud arched an eyebrow.

"I can't explain it. He's hiding something from us. There may be more to the relationship between him and the killer-"

"Who's his close relative," Yuffie interjected.

"Right," Red nodded and continued without missing a beat. "But, for the time being, I think we can trust him. After all, he did help prevent the specters from taking Yuffie and he did try to save Tifa."

Cloud was silent for a while, thinking. He knew he heard that name DeLaKruz somewhere before. A long time ago.

_A man with gray hair, combed back neatly grinned at him_…_joking and patting his back, "We'll make SOLDIER together. And when we do, I'll take you to meet my family. They're a nice bunch." _

The blonde man shook his head, clearing his head of the rush of memories pouring into his mind.

"Spiky? Ya all right there?" Barret's gruff voice broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, looking down the hall.

The bathroom door opened and Kaitzer poked his head out into the hall. "Can I come out now?"

Cloud nodded and as soon as the pale boy rejoined the group, he said, "We need a plan."

"Let's go bust into that whack's lair and quick some psycho hide!" Yuffie said, smashing her fist into her palm.

"But we don't know where it is," Red said, bursting Yuffie's bubble.

"Split up and search the town," Cloud began but was interrupted by Vincent.

"I've been patrolling the area outside the town for the past few nights – "

"And you guys think that my idea of Vinnie being a vampire was all in my head," Yuffie muttered, once again becoming a magnet for the men's glares.

Vincent cleared his throat, "and I have noticed that to the north of the town is an old abandoned factory glowing with mako. Perhaps we should start our search there."

"And you're only tellin' us this now, Vince?" Barret asked, astonished.

"Given the fact that you and Cid have been busy arguing with each other and the others were scattered around the place, I gathered that you wouldn't have done anything about it either way." the former Turk replied.

Cid looked like he was going to say something but Cloud intervened. "That's a plan. We'll need someone to stay behind and make sure the specters don't come after anyone else in town."

Cid raised a hand. "Ah hell, I'll stay behind. I don't think I'll do much against 'em specters anyhow."

"In that case I'll stay behind as well," Barret said. "Gotta have someone to make sure that lazy asshole does 'is job."

The two older men soon erupted into another foul mouthed argument and Yuffie said to Cait Sith, "You better stay behind to make sure the old married couple don't kill each other while we're gone."

The cat gave the female ninja a two fingered salute. "Will do. All of ya be careful."

"Wait, what about me?" Kaitzer asked, after staying silent for the past few minutes.

Cloud looked at him, "You're coming with us. After all," the blonde man walked past the boy towards the stairs and his room where his sword was. "you have revenge to accomplish don't you?"

Kaitzer froze before nodding gratefully at the blonde man. "Right."

The look on Yuffie's face was of shocked disbelief, "Oh what? So no one says anything when Cloud tries to be cool?!"

* * *

"Now, now, mon doux, no need to scream. It's just a little human flesh."

Tifa's eyes were wide with horror and her breathing was sporadic. The man, he was wearing a blood spattered lab coat and in his blood stained latex gloves were the entire length of the human intestines.

"I've just removed them from young Molly over there. Beautiful, isn't she? Both beautiful on the outside," he stepped over to the surgery table where the young girl laid in pain. He stroked her face and tears spilt over the corners of her eyes. "and on the inside." He grinned, holding up the long dangling human organ with his two hands.

Her captor, whoever he was, was undeniably a handsome man. His gray hair was combed back neatly. His amber orbs seemed to glow and his pearly straight teeth flashed. He seemed like the average Mr. Right – except for the whole insane killer thing.

With a sickening squish sound, the madman dropped the intestines onto the cold blood stained tile floor and kicked it toward Tifa. The martial artist tried to move away but it came to a stop against her leg. It was still warm…

She couldn't hold it in anymore. Turning toward the side, Tifa choked and vomited. Tears blurred her eyes. This madman…he didn't just kidnap and kill the girls. He tortured them. He cuts them apart and makes sure they die slowly.

He laughed a cold hollow sound that bounced around the torture chamber. "You'll get used to it. After all," He gave her a toothy grin. "you'll be next."

Tifa shivered and trembled. "No…"

"Yes."

He walked slowly towards her, peeling off the filth covered latex gloves and dropping them at the edge of her feet. He bent down toward her but before he could get any closer, her manacled together feet shot out and caught him swiftly in the midsection. His eyes widened in surprise and he stumbled back a few feet, eventually falling down on his backside.

Tifa glared as coldly as she could with her tear-blurred eyes. No way in hell would she let this sicko dissect her without a fight.

"Mon doux, you're a feisty one. A rarity in these parts. I'll have to make sure to be careful won't I?" He stood up, massaging his injured stomach and wiping away the small trail of blood that had flowed out the corner of his mouth. Though he didn't show it, the kick had hurt him more than he thought it would. Truthfully, with his mako improved reflexes, he could have easily dodged the kick but he wanted to see just how strong she was compared to the others.

Still smiling, he reached into his coat pocket and he could see her instantly tense up. He held up his other hand. "Don't worry, it's only a shot. See?" He held up the small gun to reveal a needle in its center. He nearly melted when he saw the fear grow in her eyes. Oh the pleasure he was feeling now! "You look so troubled. This will help you rest as well as protect you from any mako poisoning. You see, this facility is absolutely flooding with mako and if you stay in here too long, well…let's just say things could turn nasty."

Tifa struggled with all her might, wiggling her wrists in their manacles till the point where the skin tore and her wrists being to bloody. He pointed the gun at her. "Just relax, mon doux." He said in what he thought to be a soothing voice.

And then he pulled the trigger.

"Cloud!" She screamed, squeezing her eyes shot as the syringe hit her thigh and the purple liquid entered her bloodstream. Within seconds she was out cold, but the madman stood there idly.

"Cloud?" He repeated.

* * *

The blonde ex-SOLDIER stopped short, and Yuffie crashed painfully into him.

"Hey- what the?"

He couldn't explain it, but for some reason a cold wave of nausea just rippled through his whole entire body. Tifa. Something was happening to Tifa. He could feel it.

"Cloud? Yoo-hoo, Cloud. Gaia to Cloud!" Yuffie called loudly, in front of the taller man's face when he didn't respond.

"Tifa's in danger," he finally said. Despite the confused faces on his teammates' faces, he turned around and grabbed Kaitzer by the front of his shirt. "What else do you know about the killer? What exactly does he do to them?"

Kaitzer looked into the enraged man's mako blue eyes and he trembled. "I…"

"Answer me." Cloud demanded, giving the boy a rough shake.

A golden claw descended upon the blonde man's shoulder. "Cloud, you need to control your emotions. It would do us no good if you were to rattle Kaitzer to death."

Cloud stopped. Emotions. That's right, he needed to be calm. Being frustrated would only exacerbate the situation. Taking several deep breaths to calm himself, he slowly released Kaitzer. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"That's…all right, I guess," Kaitzer replied softly, taking a step away from Cloud nonetheless.

Vincent nodded to himself as soon as he saw that Cloud had a grip over his emotions before continuing down the path into the forest. Ever since they had left Barret, Cid and Cait back in town, the blonde man had been on edge. He understood a little of what Cloud was going through. The blonde man couldn't lose another person he cared about. When it came to losing a beloved one, both men were similar. They couldn't do a thing when the woman they cared about was lost. Closing his red orbs, Vincent let the cool night wind blow across his face. Something was here.

Red sniffed the air and growled, falling into a pouncing position.

Cloud drew his Murasame, his cold mako blue eyes scanning the area, focusing on the regions covered by shadow. He could vaguely see glowing green eyes among the bushes.

Yuffie pulled out her replacement shuriken, her Pinwheel. It held more slots for her materia and she backed into the group so they were all facing outside. They didn't need a sneak attack.

Kaitzer gulped and glanced around, pulling out his reserve whip. Belinda, a white one with middle plates on it for extra skin rippage. Its hilt was that of a snake opening its mouth, ready to bite down at any moment's notice. He caught sight of Yuffie's weapon and did a double take. "What the heck is that?"

Yuffie grinned mischievously. "Nyuk nyuk nyuk, just watch what it can do."

And then a horde of black hounds leapt out at them.

The young female ninja disappeared with a poof, leaving behind a hazy gray cloud. Then she appeared mid air in front of the leaping hounds and her Pinwheel, for a flimsy weapon, sliced them apart. "Blood Fest!"

With the girl of the group initializing the attack, the others soon followed. Red charged into a group of hounds, knocking them aside as if they were bowling pins before unleashing a powerful Sled Fang. The black hounds saw a flash of red fur before everything went, ironically, black.

Vincent had jumped into a high tree branch, sniping off any hounds that planned to sneak up upon his friends. There was a sudden rustling of leaves behind him and without even turning around, Vincent pointed his gun behind his shoulder and fired. There followed the sound of a heavy animal body hitting the forest floor. "Hn."

Below, another group of hounds jumped into the brawl, followed by what looked like the mother of all black hounds. A large two headed beast with thick fur that even Yuffie's Pinwheel Blood Fest couldn't cut. Kaitzer dashed in between the pack leader's two front paws, using his Belinda to cut at its tender abdominal flesh. The small boy zoomed out of the way right before the heavy beast collapsed onto the ground.

Cloud raised his Murasame above his head. Blue eyes narrowed when they met with the pack leader's bright green orbs. And it was then that the beast knew it was over.

"Blade Beam."

Cloud brought his sword down and a wave of blue energy shot out toward the large monster, tearing him apart before the blue energy divided into smaller waves and went after the other hounds.

Vincent jumped down onto the forest floor without a sound and with an expert twirl of the gun with his finger he placed his Shortbarrel back into its holster.

"Yeah! Do we kick butt or what?" Yuffie smirked and landed in a crouch on both feet and raised her hand into the air to catch her returning Pinwheel.

"Now isn't the time to get overconfident, Yuffie," Red advised, rejoining the group. He glanced at the thick foliage around them. "I sense something evil out there."

"Yeah, yeah."

Cloud sheathed his Murasame and looked over at Kaitzer who was winding up his metal whip. He probably wouldn't say it out loud, but Cloud was impressed with the way that someone as young as Kaitzer could handle such an unsystematic weapon like a whip. "You handled yourself pretty well out there."

Kaitzer beamed at the subtle compliment. "Thanks. I better be or I wouldn't have lasted this long."

"Hey, guys, I think I see that abandoned facility Vincent was talking about!" Yuffie shouted, jumping up and down with excitement. "Now let's go!"

Vincent once again grabbed the young ninja's head band, stopping the girl from going any further.

"Yuffie, do the words 'think ahead' mean nothing to you?" Red asked, shaking his head in disapproval.

Grumbling, Yuffie spun around to face the group with her arms crossed across her chest. "Alright, alright. But I'll have you know that I do better thinking on my feet!" She stuck her face towards the lion, indicating that she was having the last word in their argument.

Red sighed and said nothing else.

"You happy now?" Cloud asked, slightly annoyed at the ninja.

"Positively thrilled," Yuffie replied cheekily with a wide mischievous smile.

Kaitzer blinked at the exchange of words between the team members. They were all so different, yet they meshed perfectly together.

"This doesn't make sense," He muttered, watching as Cloud glowered down at the young girl and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Then again, nothing else in the world does either," Red replied, giving him a sharp smile.

Kaitzer frowned. "But don't you get annoyed at her?"

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know you guys all that well but she's already annoying to me."

Red gave a low chuckle. "It's our differences that allow us to accept each other. At least," he paused before tilting his furry head up towards the pale boy, "I'd like to think that."

"Can we go now?" Yuffie's whiny tone caused Red to sigh.

"But you're right. Sometimes she is a little hard on your patience." The red lion walked slowly to rejoin the others and pay peacemaker before Yuffie ticks Cloud off anymore.

'_It's our differences that allow us to accept each other._'

Kaitzer looked down at his mud caked boots. "I wonder," he whispered, "would they accept me?"

He jogged to keep up with them as the group headed toward the abandoned facility.

"We're coming, Tifa," Cloud said, more to himself. His eyes narrowed at the mako radiated building determinedly. "I'll make whoever kidnap you pay."

* * *

Cold…and pitch black.

The girl lying on the table shifted, but found that she could not move much. Her hands were chained together above her head and her feet were still manacled together. Her eyelids fluttered open and she hissed as the blinding surgery light penetrated her chocolate orbs.

"Is it too bright? I'm sorry; I'll dim it for you."

Tifa froze. He was still here and… She gasped, opening her eyes. Oh god, she was on the operating table. She turned her head around, trying to get a glance of the room. If she was here then where was Molly?

As if reading her thoughts, the madman stepped up toward her table until his head blocked the lights. "Molly wasn't much fun, mon doux, so I simply threw her out with the others." He turned toward the right where a large, rusty metallic door began to slide up.

Tifa narrowed her eyes and tried to get a good look. All she could see was a bright green mako glow and then…She wished she hadn't looked at all. There were dozens of them. Perhaps close to fifty. All nude. All torn apart. And all looking at her.

Bodies piled upon bodies. There were flies and maggots all over them. And…oh god, Molly, the girl they had tried to rescue. Her green eyes were dull and empty, her mouth open in a silent scream. She looked like she had been cut in two. Her bottom half piled on top of her.

The bile rose to her throat but there was nothing left to come out. Tears stung her eyes as the acid feeling in the back of her throat sank back down into her stomach. Oh god, oh god.

Where was Cloud? Where was her hero?

"Cloud," she whispered. "Cloud." Her voice rising. "Cloud!"

With a wave of his hand, the door slid close again, sparing her the sight and the smell of the young women before her, but not before an almost see-through green vapor slid through.

"It's amazing isn't it? For some reason, the souls of the girls mix with the heavy mako concentration in this facility and together they make green specters. Despite how many I've made, I still don't understand how it works. Mayhap it's the anger of being killed by me that causes their spirits to linger long enough for the mako to transform it into a semi-physical being." He turned his head back down to look at her.

Tifa squeezed her eyes shut as his cold, latex covered hands came to rest on either side of her head. She didn't want to hear the sickly soft voice of his anymore.

"Open your eyes, mon doux," he whispered softly, bending down so that his breath grazed her face, "and tell me who this Cloud is."

Opening her eyes, she spat at him, her chocolate eyes very much unlike the teary, fear-filled ones he had seen a minute ago. "All you need to know is that he's coming to kick. Your. Ass."

Instead of looking angry, he merely wiped the spittle away and looked back at her with amused amber eyes as she put extra emphasis on the last three words. "So this Cloud of yours is coming eh? Perhaps I should send a wel-"

"He's not mine."

He had started to walk away when he heard that soft voice. It was so very quiet; he began to doubt if he had heard it at all, but still, "I'm sorry?"

Tifa closed her eyes and turned her head away defiantly. She said nothing else.

He gave a soft chuckle and left through a door in a corner of the room. "You're an interesting one."

Tifa listened acutely for the moment his footsteps would completely disappear before opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Okay, Tifa, you're not going to get out of this by crying or puking. Get it together and figure a way out."

With her fingers, she felt a weak spot on one of the chain links. If she could only…Taking in a deep breath she tried to pull her wrist apart with all her might. There was a soft chink sound and Tifa grinned. "Just a little more…" She could wiggle her wrists now.

While wiggling her wrists, her eyes scanned the room while avoiding that one large door with the bright green glow at the edges. The room was made up of rusting metal. There were saws and blades with various degrees of sharpness as well as other torture items hanging on a rack on the wall. Besides the door that he left through, there was a flight of stairs leading up. From the lack of windows in the room, she suspected that she was being kept underground.

The door out of her line of sight that he had left through hissed open. "Good news, mon doux, you were right. It seems Cloud is here." He chuckled, "You have such good timing. I guess our play session will have to wait until later." He disappeared through the door again.

Tifa let out the breath that she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't help but grin brightly despite the situation she was in. "I knew it," she whispered. "you promised you would come for me when I'm in trouble…" A beautiful smile graced her features before she set her concentration back on busting the chain loose. "Okay, Cloud and the others are here. You have to do your part too."

* * *

"Does anybody else feel the heebie-jeebies I'm feelin'?" Yuffie asked, her teeth chattering loudly. The young girl was the first to step through the broken down doors of the large building and she was currently rubbing her hands up and down on her arms.

Red followed her in though his fur kept him warm. "It's just a little damp in here. I'm surprised you didn't say anything when we were out fighting those hounds in the rain."

"Alright, we have to be careful," Cloud said in a low voice, peeling off his rain poncho and shaking his wet blonde spikes.

Kaitzer watched in fascination. "How does he keep his hair spiked in the heavy rain?"

"Natural stubbornness. Works better than the stickiest gel," Yuffie replied through clenched teeth.

Vincent pulled out his gun and shot a rusty lock that had been on a manhole in the floor.

"Who keeps locks on a manhole?" Cloud exchanged looks with Vincent before carefully peeling back the covering.

There was a faint glow down the passage, and a horrible rotting smell.

"Ew," Yuffie pinched her nose shut and shook her head roughly, sending the water droplets in her hair onto Kaitzer and Red. "First we go through a forest in the rain, and now we're going down this stinky sewer? Grossness!"

"I don't remember you complaining when we were going through the forest," Kaitzer looked at the Wutain princess out of the corner of his eye. When Red had first told him about Yuffie's lineage, he laughed nonstop. Her? A princess? Red's blank face finally convinced him the red lion wasn't pulling his leg.

Cloud hopped down into the manhole followed by the others.

The sewer had a filthy water line that rose up to their knees (for Red, it ended mercifully two inches below his snout, but the smell was still painful to his nose). It seemed like the towns sewer pipes connected with this one from the amount of trash. Rats poked in and out around the rubbish but scattered as the arrival of the five uninvited guests.

"Ewww…." Yuffie glanced around nervously. "Maybe the whacko has another way down here. Another cleaner way."

"Maybe," Cloud replied, running his eyes along the walls and ceilings of the curved walls of the tunnel. "It doesn't look like this place's been disturbed much. Let's keep going."

Behind them, a specter watched the small group make their way further down before disappearing through the wall.

"Door," Vincent pointed his gun at the lock on the door to their side and shot it off.

Yuffie kicked the door down without a thought about how much noise she was making. "Stairs! Finally."

Red bounded down the steps after her, shaking the filthy water off his fur. "Yuffie, I think I may have found something to agree with you on."

Kaitzer reached the bottom step quietly and found that they could go two ways: left or right. To the left, the walls and ceilings were lined with pipes where bright green vapors escaped from and to the right was a large door with a flashing blue light on the side.

"I think I found our killer's way in." He pointed down the right.

Cloud followed his finger. "Remind me to blow that door down on our way out." The sewage water had a rather interesting effect on his purple mercenary clothes. Maybe it was the algae in the water or some sort of chemical spill but from the knee down, his pants were a neon purple color.

Yuffie guffawed mercilessly. "Awww, Cloud, I didn't know you liked bright colors."

Even Vincent's thin line of a lip curled slightly upward at one end; he turned away quickly before anyone could see. "Let's go."

With a final glare in Yuffie's direction, the blonde man followed the silent gunslinger down the green lit passage.

Red walked in between the two teens and when Kaitzer suddenly stopped, Red glanced back at him. "Is something wrong?"

Kaitzer was silent for a minute before reaching up and running a hand along a pipe. "This green gas. I think it's mako."

Cloud moved out of the way as another jet stream of green gas escaped from one of the pipes. "You're sure?" He hadn't been showered with mako since SOLDIER training, but he should have known. Mako exposure was something that he and Vincent could handle, but as for the other three?

"Yeah, I'm sure." Kaitzer caught the worried look on his face. "Hey I can handle a little mako."

"I as well," Red said.

Yuffie snorted, "C'mon, Cloud. How well do ya know me? Yuffie Kisaragi against mako gas? Hello? Mako: 0 and Yuffie: ten billion zillion."

From the pointed glares given to her, Yuffie frowned. "All right, I can handle it for a while."

Cloud nodded. "Good, the minute you start feeling weird, don't hesitate to tell us."

"Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't want to suddenly sprout an extra head or somethin' but I guess an extra head would be kinda cool 'cause I could talk to my-"

"Yuffie," Vincent said, looking at something behind her.

"What?" The ninja began to turn around but was pushed aside by Kaitzer just in time to avoid getting caught by the green specter that zoomed past them.

Cloud drew his Murasame. "C'mon. There's a large room up ahead."

The others were at his heels in the next second. Red turned to look over his shoulder and his eyes widened. "There are at least twenty of them."

"Good," Cloud replied, keeping his eyes to the front. "We'll each deal four a piece."

Cloud ran into the large empty room but Vincent skidded to a stop.

"Wait, Clou-"

However the momentum of the other three behind him knocked him in after Cloud. Before the team had a chance to take a breath, the room was flooded with a purple gas.

"Hey what the…ugh…my head's spinning…" Yuffie's legs wobbled as she brought her hand to her head. "Ugh." The young ninja collapsed but Red rushed to her side to prevent her from hitting the floor. However, he too succumbed to the highly effective knock out gas.

Cloud clutched his throat with one hand and tried not to breathe the gas. Someone bumped into him from behind and he whipped around to see Kaitzer collapse to the ground. The boy's eyes were slowly closing and he too was starting to feel strange. The room began to swim and his grip on his sword came loose. His feet were sliding out from under him and before the minute was done, Cloud was on his back with Kaitzer's head resting on his rib.

Vincent spun around to find all his teammates unconscious. A voice filled the room.

"Oh? So the gas doesn't affect you?"

"Who are you?" Vincent demanded, pointed the barrel of his gun at various places in the room.

A figure appeared amidst the vapor. His face was hidden by a gas mask but the gunslinger noticed the blood stained lab coat, as well as a part of an all too familiar glove hanging out from one of the coat's pockets.

Tifa's Diamond Knuckle.

His red eyes widened before something green enveloped his entire body. Instinctively, he pulled the trigger on his gun, but he was shocked to see his bullet travel not two inches from the barrel before it became caught in the same substance he was trapped in. Then he too, slipped into an unnatural slumber.

The gas began to seep back into the pipes in the room and the madman removed his mask to get a better look at his new captives. His amber eyes stopped on one unconscious form and he grinned.

"Mon doux, it seems I have figured out who your Cloud is."

End Chapter

Next chapter, the team wakes up in a cell, Vincent and Cloud are missing and there is a bitter reunion between brothers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Prison Cell

Yuffie Kisaragi, the single white rose of Wutai, single greatest female ninja of all time, the best of the best, stared stupidly in front of her.

"Yuffie, you need to snap out of it!" Nanaki, a.k.a. Red XIII called into the young girl's face. Again, he was given no response save for a thin line of drool that leaked out of the girl's mouth and landed on an accumulating puddle that had formed on her tan shorts.

Nanaki sighed before turning around to face the other teen. "Kaitzer?" Unlike Yuffie, Kaitzer still had his eyes closed, but the effect was pretty much the same.

The red lion woke up about half an hour ago and found himself as well as his two teen companions dumped unceremoniously in this holding cell with their weapons and material removed. The cell itself was a large box shape, relatively small actually, with air vents in the four corners of the room. The area inside was warm, almost humid and every ten minutes or so, a green specter would float through the walls of the room. Sentry, thought Nanaki. There was no sign of Cloud, Vincent, or Tifa.

The adolescent beast had spent all thirty minutes since his waking to try and wake the other two, but as it seems: Yuffie was conscious on some level but the better part of her brain was still suffering the drug's effects and Kaitzer was plain out cold.

"This is one of those moments where I would appreciate Cait Sith's morning wake up calls with his megaphone." He said to himself, sitting on his hind legs between the two, his ears drooping slightly. "I'm worried about the others."

It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small, small world!

Weeee, the young dark haired girl spun around and around blissfully. All around her were piles upon piles of shiny materia and anything else she could ever want! Joyously, she threw her head back and laughed a great loud laugh. She had finally done it! She was queen of the world and everybody bowed down to her!

Nyuk nyuk nyuk!

It's a small world now that she's ruling it. Everywhere you go, in every town, city, or mole hill was a large statue of her. An exact likeness – chiseled down to the smallest beauty mole.

Yuffie Kisaragi pranced through the fields of materia shaped flowers. And jumped into her large room of shiny gold gil. It didn't matter why in Gaia there was a room full of gold in the middle of a materia growing flower field but who cares! She was the queen of the world now and that was all that mattered.

"Um…Yuffie?" Red asked uncertainly when the young ninja suddenly began rolling back and forth on the cell floor, giggling to herself.

"Yuffiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….." rumbled a ghostly voice.

The queen of the world watched in fear as her gil suddenly started to clump together into the shape of large lion…beast…thing… "Yufffiiiieeeee…. wake……. uuuuuuup."

Yuffie Kisaragi, lanky teen princess of Wutai, thief, sufferer of minor kleptomania, sat up screaming bloody hell.

"Calm down, Yuffie-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"It's only m-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yu-" Nanaki felt his patience slipping away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH-…ugh!"

The young girl, wiped hastily at the saliva on her face that Nanaki's tongue left. "Ugh…." She cried in disgust before glaring at her furry friend. "Red, what the heck was that for?!"

"I had to get you to stop screaming somehow," Red replied, with the look on his face that implied he had just licked something particularly nasty. "And I won't even ask what you were dreaming about just now."

"How'd you know I was dreaming?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Red silently pointed a paw at the still wet drool evident on her shorts.

"Gah! Grossness!" Yuffie shrieked and began wiping at it.

Red sighed. "We have bigger things to worry about then a little stain."

"B-but...its d-drool!"

"It'll dry right off in a few minutes."

"But it's so-o disgusting!"

It was at this moment that the sentry green specter decided to slip through the walls. Perhaps if it had been a minute later, Red would have bitten of the young ninja's head. The two immediately ceased all bickering and watched with careful eyes as the specter floated through the opposite wall.

"Maybe now you can start being a little serious about the situation we're in?" Red didn't bother to keep the growing annoyance out of his voice. Even a normally calm and shy beast like him could get riled with Yuffie's childishness after a while, especially when they're stuck in a slightly cramped space like they were.

Yuffie nodded her gray eyes no longer playful and mischievous. This was Serious Yuffie mode. "Where are we?" She just began to notice where they are. "What happened?"

"After we were chased into the large room by those specters, we were gassed. I woke up in here with you two still asleep." Red replied, watching Yuffie stand up and stretch her thin arms and legs out.

"What about the guys? Or Tifa? Have you seen Tifa?"

Red shook his head sadly. "No, I'm afraid not. It seems that Cloud and Vincent are held somewhere else and no sign of Tifa. I'm beginning to suspect that the specters were just there to lure us into the gas room."

"Maybe Cloud and Vinnie got away," Yuffie suggested a spark of hope in her eye.

"We can only hope that," Red replied. "We need to come up with a plan to get out of here and find the others. But first," he turned around, "we need to wake up Kaitzer."

The pale boy chose that moment to let loose a loud snore. He was asleep on his back, his head turned to the side. The hood of his trench coat was pulled up and Yuffie frowned.

"Man, no wonder I never heard of that band. Their loco is so tacky. Look at that: horns and an ogre face? And don't get me started on that large cross on the back with all those chocobos bordering it."

"Yuffie," Red groaned. "can we try to stay on task here?"

"Alright, alright! But it's still tacky." The female ninja turned her attention to the pale boy snoring softly in front of them. "So what should we do? Cover his nose and mouth and hope he wakes up?"

Seeing the unbelieving look on the lion's face, Yuffie threw her arms up in exasperation. "Well, what do ya wan' me to do? You try and wake him then!"

Red shot Yuffie an annoyed glower before looking down at the sleeping Kaitzer. Without a word, he placed his two front paws above the boy's mouth and nose. It worked like magic. Kaitzer immediately sat up, prying Red's furry paws off and taking in huge gulps of air.

Yuffie snickered. "Gee, Red, I didn't know you've lowered yourself to my underhanded ways."

Red retaliated with a one eyed glare before glancing down at the still panting boy. "I'm sorry, Kait-"

The boy faced them with an incredulous look upon his face before his lips twisted into an angry snarl. "You're sorry?! You scared the crap outta me; I thought someone was tryin' to kill me!"

That only made Red look guiltier than he already was and Yuffie, sensing her companions distress snapped at Kaitzer, "Okay, so maybe Red coulda gotten carried away and left his paws on your face for an extra minute, but you're awake now and there's no harm done so let's just concentrate on getting the heck outta here!"

Both males looked back at her in shock and surprise. Kaitzer mumbled a quick apology to the lion before looking away, fiddling with the laces on his boots but Red gave a serene grin to the ninja. The girl looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Gah, just don' think I'm going mushy or anything. He just started sounding jerkish is all."

"I understand, Yuffie."

"Well then, stop it! You're embarrassing me!"

Kaitzer cut in with a well timed cough. "So, erm, about getting out of here."

* * *

Everything was hazy…

He tried raising his head but there was this painful crick in his neck that prevented him from doing so. There was a sharp intake of breath as pain shot through his numb limbs. It felt like someone was prodding him with Reno's damn electric stick. Slowly, Cloud peeked with one mako blue eye before opening the other. He was…chained to the wall a foot off the ground. Without putting too much stress on his neck, he glanced around the room quickly: it was a rather large room, filled with tanks that most likely contained mako and the entire area was cast in an eerie green glow. His eyes stopped on one corner of the room where he gasped.

"Vincent!"

The gunslinger was in a large tank, filled with lavender colored liquid. A tube that had been stuffed awkwardly in his mouth connected to a respirator outside the tank and Cloud let out a breath of relief to see that Vincent was just unconscious.

_Now where are the others?_ He thought, glancing around the room. Not that he was particularly worried. Red and Yuffie can take care of themselves and he could say the same for Kaitzer who had displayed his quick speed on the black hound attack, but he grimaced when he saw their weapons and materia laid out on a table next to Vincent's respirator.

"Oh crap."

Tifa had found it extremely hard to contain the large grin on her face despite the position she was in when the madman came into the room with a somewhat annoyed expression on his handsome pale face that her friends had come for her.

"Mon doux, your friend Cloud," he began but she heard his voice falter. "Nevermind." And with that, he left her alone again.

It had been…how long since he left? Her internal clock told her that it must have been around two hours and now she heard the hiss of the door behind her open. The soft tap tap sound of his boots against the tile floor grew steadily louder and pale hands appeared above her face, snapping on a new pair of latex gloves.

Tifa could feel her stomach clench. He was back. But the last time he was here, he said he was going to stop her friends, and if he was back then…No, she didn't want to think about that. They were fine, just like she was going to be.

"Mon doux, your friends were easy to capture. So easy it almost surprised me. From what you've been saying I half expected that I might actually have to try."

Tifa remained silent and he continued like he expected her to not say a thing.

"That one with the red eyes, the one with the guns. He surprised me. I'm guessing that he's not human the way he remained conscious even after a full two minutes of exposure to the gas. Though it's not my style, I'll have to open him up and see what he's made of inside."

"Why?"

The question from her caught him off guard. "Why, you say? As in why I do this?" From the look in her eyes, he could see that was exactly what she meant. He grinned viciously and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, the grin only widening when she flinched. His voice dropped to a low whisper. "It's because I can. That's why." He stood up and began walking away, towards the wall her legs were facing, the same wall with all the blades and saws. He went to the very end of the edge and picked up the smallest one.

Tifa's eyes widened when he saw her walk back towards her, twirling the small knife expertly between his fingers. He stopped at her side, amber eyes scrutinizing every detail about her: from her long brown hair to her ample chest to her long slender legs. The martial artist found it extreme agony to be under his penetrating gaze but she refused to give in, she hardened her eyes and glared at him. Her muscles tensed and he placed a finger on her arm.

"No need to be afraid just yet. I only have some questions I wish to ask." A pause. "However," The knife in his fingers slipped and pierced the skin on her arm. A small line of bright red began to seep out. Her right eye twitched a bit. "I'm sorry." He picked up the blade and buried it deeply into the surgery table without a blink. "Where was I? Ah, however I will be wanting some answers."

He knelt down on the floor and placed his elbows on the table, resting his chin atop his crossed fingers. Tifa turned her head to stare defiantly back into his amber ones. Suddenly, much to Tifa's surprise, he burst out into a soft chuckle. It was so carefree and so much different from the other more malicious laughs she heard from him that a small part of her almost wanted to join him.

He closed his eyes, the chuckle dying into a low rumble in the back of his throat. When he opened them, his amber orbs were so… gentle that suddenly the madman with the combed back gray hair and the blood spattered lab coat was soon replaced with a much more…innocent man. It was almost like looking at an older version of… She gasped softly in shock.

Kaitzer.

"So," his voice broke through her thoughts. "Before I get into those questions, I want to… make things seem a little less formal." She blinked and refrained from letting loose a bitter laugh. He thought her being chained up to this surgery table in a torture room with him circling her like a hawk was formal? "My name is German. I am currently twenty-five years old. I was born in a Gypsy town called Musiheurse – it means 'happy music' in the Gypsy tongue and yes, I am a Gypsy, partly anyway. Though I'm probably not as eccentric as my few surviving countrymen." He chuckled again. "I like beautiful young women." Well, at least he was being honest, Tifa thought. "And I dislike being interrupted from whatever I'm doing." He grinned at her, and to her horror, she almost blushed. "Now, your turn."

Tifa averted her eyes, and instead found herself staring at the small droplets of blood that fell from her cut onto the table.

"And if I don't want to?"

He paused for a bit, as if searching for something to say before smiling down at her. "I guess I could pump you full of drugs and have you spill out your deepest, darkest secrets." Despite his cheerful look Tifa could tell he was being serious.

Boy did this feel weird.

"Um…"

"You could start with your name." he suggested, cocking his head to the side.

"Tifa Lockhart. I'm…twenty years old and I was born in Nibelheim."

German sat up in what seemed like surprise. His eyes glazed over into a far off look before he muttered, "I see, Nibelheim eh?" to himself. Then to her confusion, he said something else in a language that she can only assume to be the Gypsy tongue from the flowing, almost song like tone. "Et c'est là où Cloud est de... Eh, please continue."

"I like taking care of others and I dislike it when I'm kidnapped by some psycho and forced to engage him in a 'friendly' conversation or face being pumped full of drugs and have him do Gaia knows what to me," she replied the last part smartly.

German chuckled loudly. "Most amusing. But," with a sigh, he stood up and dusted off his dark blue pants before looking away. "I suppose you'll want to know how your friends are."

Tifa had to refrain from shouting out 'yes!' the second he finished his sentence. Pursing her lips tightly together, she managed to squeeze out a, "You better not have done anything to them." in a tone that implied she was trying to be threatening despite the fact the he clearly had the upper hand.

"Oh I did."

Tifa glared heatedly at him but he raised a hand.

"Would you like to see them?"

* * *

"Okay so now what?" Kaitzer asked, glancing hopelessly as Yuffie charged head first into the solid metal wall. Both he and Red flinched at the loud crunch sound when the young ninja's face met with the wall – for the fifth time. Clearly that was getting them nowhere.

Yuffie moaned and clutched at her nose before glaring daggers at the five marks she had left on the wall. Right next to them were the six dents made by Red, the lion was the only seemed like he had the strength to plow right through the wall but sadly they were mistaken as the gas apparently had sapped him of his strength for the time being, and the one made by Kaitzer, he had stopped in the middle of his second try, deciding that crushing his nose against a metal wall wasn't going to work anytime soon.

"Hey we could always use those horns on your hood to drill a way outta here," the ninja suggested, all of a sudden staring at the stubby black hood ornaments.

Kaitzer immediately grabbed at them with both of his gray gloved hands. "No way! Don't even think about it."

"Come on! What's so important about that stupid costume of yours anyway?" She scoffed.

Red had caught the flash of anger and pain that swept through the boys face and he said in a warning fashion, "Yuffie."

"What? I was just askin'."

Kaitzer sighed. "It's…one of the only things left from my family."

Red and Yuffie exchanged looks before the guardian of Cosmo Canyon padded over toward the boy and sat down, indicating that he wanted Kaitzer to continue. Yuffie crossed her arms impatiently and stood, tapping her foot.

"I'm…"

Tifa kept her eyes trained on German the entire time he moved about the room. He soon stopped in front of the wall lined with torture tools and apparently he hit a switch because the wall split in half down the middle and started sliding to the side. He stood directly in her front of her so whatever he was looking at she couldn't see. The other room's green glow merged with the torture room's and for some reason that made a canceling effect. About time, the never ending green was being to strain her chocolate wine eyes.

She lifted her head up to examine the other room but was interrupted when she heard an all too familiar voice that made her heart jump into her throat.

"Who are you?"

German smiled and stepped into the other room, moving out of her line of vision so she could see clearly.

His eyes widened in surprise as he took in her state. "Tifa, are you alright?"

"Cloud," she could only gasp.

"Are you alright?" he repeated before shooting German a dangerous look. "He didn't do anything to you did he?"

"No," she'd clue him in about the… previous girls when they got the hell of here. "Where are the others?"

"Vincent right over there in the corner, unconscious." He added quickly when he saw her eyes flick to his left and gasped. "I don't know where the others are-"

"Rest assured, Cloud Strife, they are fine," German cut in taking a further step into the room, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his lab coat, finger lingering on the last one. He gazed at Cloud intently with narrowed eyes. "I believe I've met you before, Cloud Strife of Nibelheim. Yes yes, I most definitely have met you somewhere before." He turned his eyes to the ground when Cloud spoke up.

"DeLaKruz, isn't it?"

Tifa's eyes flickered over to German momentarily before going back to Cloud. The uncanny resemblance to the boy, he could be his father; no, German didn't look old enough. Perhaps a cousin or-

German chuckled deeply. "Ah yes. I saw him when the specters lead you into the gas chamber. I was surprised, he actually found me." He shook his head slowly, an amused grin upon his face. "Kaitzer, Kaitzer, Kaitzer… poor poor boy. Poor, dear," He glanced up at Cloud, "brother of mine."

Both Cloud and Tifa gasped. No way. There was no way that kid could be that monster's younger brother. Sure they resembled each other in appearance, but that boy…there was no way he was like German. Kaitzer seemed like a nice kid, despite the fact that they had only met him. With his chocobo, old guitar case and odd garbs, there was no way that he could be…

Kaitzer gazed at them with suspicious amber eyes and another emotion, one carefully hidden from the cell's other two occupants. Twisting his boyish, pale face into a stoic mask he said, "I was born in a Gypsy town in the South, Musiheurse."

"No way, you're Gypsy?" Yuffie exclaimed, forgetting her impatience for a moment. "Like, prancing around the bonfire and really funky folk music?"

"Yuffie, it isn't nice to stereotype," Red said, dryly.

Kaitzer continued but not before sending Yuffie a withering glance. "My dad was half Gypsy so he felt that he shouldn't live by their strict, religious laws. Most of the time anyway. He liked ticking off the old conservative, tradition thumping elders in the town. Y'know, running around playing loud outsider music – like rock. My dad liked rock, said it sounded free and without rules. And of course, it was against our rules to play any music other than traditional music.

But what really set them off was when he got an outsider, my mom, pregnant. The whole town was in an uproar. It wasn't until one of the nicer elders said that since she was already pregnant, there was nothing else for them to do but to get married."

"Ever hear of abortion?"

A sigh. "Yuffie…"

"It's against Gypsy laws to judge an unborn child." Was the angry reply.

"So… you guys kill the baby _after_ it was born right?"

"Anyway," Kaitzer decided to ignore her. "They had a kid, my older brother. My mom decided to raise him in the Gypsy ways, even though she was an outsider. She felt like she owed it to my dad's family or something. So my older brother was brought up carefully, a gentleman kind of guy. But then, when he was ten, my mom had me. Since my mom raised my older brother with her rules, my dad raised me with his."

"No wonder you're obsessed with rock." Yuffie commented. Before Red could say anything, she held up a hand. "Don't know about you, Red, but that didn't sound rude to me."

The lion snapped his jaw shut before signaling Kaitzer to continue.

"Being Gypsy and all didn't make anything easier, not to mention all the prejudice going around made it hard to get a steady paying job and you know a Gypsy's meal comes from their performances. So my older brother left town and…"

His chuckle grew into a loud laugh that bounced off the corners of the two combined rooms. "That much of a surprise is it?" He shook his head with a wide grin upon his face. "You shouldn't be too surprised, Cloud Strife." His eyes flashed darkly and his grin changed sadistic. "After all, I've told you all about my family before remember?" He smirked in victory upon seeing the look of shock upon Cloud's face before feigning a look of mock hurt. "And we were such good friends too. How could you have forgotten me so easily?"

Cloud shook his head roughly before steeling his glare on German. "You're lying! I've never met you before and if I did, I certainly wouldn't have let a monster like you live!"

"But I wasn't a monster," he replied quietly, holding his amber gaze with Cloud's mako blue ones. His eyes slowly began to reveal a blue green mako tint. "_They_ changed me into a monster."

"What?" Cloud's eyes furrowed in confusion and he stopped struggling against his bonds which he had been doing inconspicuously the whole time.

German's eyes narrowed and his amber orbs looked like that of one thinking of a far away time.

"… to join SOLDIER." Kaitzer wrapped his arms around his thin legs and rested his chin upon his knee. "Like I said, with so many people being prejudice against the Gypsies, it was hard to bring any gil home. My family, just like many of the other families, went around the place as a performing band. Even if people liked my dad's voice and my mom's lyrics, they can only make so much. So, my brother thought he was helping the family out. The Powers That Be were immediately against that. Since during the War, Gypsies found it hard to trust anyone but themselves and they must certainly don't want any connection with ShinRa."

"Yeah, my old man told me that Gypsies used to have this entire empire down in the South like way long ago," Yuffie chipped in. "ShinRa supplied the big guns to the Gypsy's enemies and that's when the country started having civil conflicts and stuff right?"

Kaitzer nodded sadly. "The country broke apart and the Gypsies migrated into other lands.

Anyway, my brother didn't let the elders' objections stop him and he packed bags the next day and left. They immediately branded him an exiled and said that if anyone were to spoke to him again, they would be exiled too."

"Why do you fear being exiled?" Red asked curiosity peaked.

"Well, because Gypsies are all about family. Being exiled means that you'll never see your family again. To some of us, that's even worse than dying."

"Maybe you should get your priorities straightened," Yuffie muttered.

Red shot her a look.

"What?!"

German paced back and forth angrily. Tifa found it hard to keep her head up any longer. There was a crick in her neck and she laid her head back down for a minute. That was when he spoke and she lifted her head immediately regretting the action when she heard a loud crack.

"We were there on that day, six years ago in a fort just outside of Midgar to train for SOLDIER."

Cloud's eyes widened.

"Remember now, you were that lanky young boy, struggling with your luggage. I helped you because you reminded me of my brother. Because of ShinRa's involvement in the Gypsy Empire downfall, I was exiled from my home, destined to never see my family again. It pained me but you reminded me too much of my brother to be pushed around by the other men. So, I befriended you."

Cloud was at a lost for words. It was all coming back to him now in a rush of suppressed memories. It was whirling around so fast in his mind that the room itself began to swim in his eyes. He remembered now. That man…

* * *

"_So Cloud, where are you from?" the man asked watching in amazement at the way the skinny boy in front of him put away three large loaves of bread and a large bowl of soup._

_The lanky blonde teen's ribs could clearly be seen from under their training uniform and he couldn't help but wonder where all the food went._

_Cloud gulped down the rest of the soup with a satisfied sigh and answered, "Nibelheim."_

_The man's eyes widened. "Nibelheim? That's a long way from here. You want to get into SOLDIER that bad?"_

_To his surprise, Cloud's cheeks flushed. "Y-yeah." He paused before he continued in a smaller voice. "Nobody back home thought I could do anything, so I'd thought after I joined SOLDIER, they'll take back everything they say and Tifa'll…" he caught himself and avoided the man's understanding grin._

"_You're trying to impress a girl eh?"_

"_Hey, don't laugh at me. Why're you here?" He changed the subject._

"_For… family."_

_Cloud finally looked up at him to see a far away look in the man's amber eyes when the two were joined at their table by another. Zack Fairs: tall, muscular, handsome and number one in their class. He had future SOLDIER stamped all over his peachy skin and spiky black hair. The teen from Gongaga grinned at the other two. _

"_So guys, ready for today's monster training? They're giving us materia today."_

_Cloud groaned and Zack patted the younger boy's back sympathetically. "Hey come on, you'll get through it." Glancing up at the man, Zack's brow furrowed in concern. "German, you alright? You look kinda pale. Er…paler than usual."_

_German merely gave a smile when Cloud lifted his head up. "I'm fine."_

"_Hey German!" Zack shouted, dropping his Buster Blade and rushing over to the group of ShinRa medics surrounding his comrade. Cloud, nearby gunning down a small monster that Zack had missed glanced over his shoulder before he too threw his weapon to the ground and ran over toward the others._

_Zack's purple orbs looked over German's prone body. There were large gashes in several places that were gushing out blood. The ground was covered with red and the medics weren't doing a thing to stop it. They were injecting some kind of green liquid into his veins and muttering scientific jargon to one another._

"_Hey!" Zack grabbed one of them angrily by the collar and lifted the scrawny white coat so that they were face to face. "What the hell are you doing to my friend?"_

"_I believe that is out of line, Mr. Fairs," a weedy, high-pitch voice that suggested the person was of a higher class than those around him said. _

_Zack dropped the medic who scrambled out of the way just as Cloud joined the taller boy. His eyes narrowed. "Professor Hojo."_

_The head of the ShinRa biochemical department sneered in reply. His tiny eyes flickered between Zack and Cloud before muttering something to a medic. German was hoisted onto a stretcher and into a van, that was no doubt headed back into Midgar._

"_Where are you taking him?" Zack demanded while Cloud stood by, shriveled by the stern scientist's presence._

"_Mr. DeLaKruz has suffered a severe injury and needs to be taken back to my lab to recuperate. I suggest you get back to your training." He turned to leave._

"_Wait!" Hojo paused and looked over his shoulder with an impatient glare. "When will he be back?"_

"_For all we know with an injury of that severity, he might not even survive." His thin lips twisted into a cruel smile before he left._

_Zack turned away angrily, mentally berating himself for not telling German to go to the infirmary. He was so lost in his angry thoughts that Cloud was the only one who heard Hojo talking to himself._

"…………………_make a great subject for……Operation Deepground…"

* * *

_

"That's right, you remember now don't you?" German said catching the shocked look on Cloud's face before unbuttoning the last button on his lab coat to reveal a navy blue uniform lined with glowing aqua stripes underneath. "They took me away, deep into the secrets of ShinRa and changed me. Mutated me. Destroyed whatever was left of me." He gave a sadistic grin before turning glancing back at Tifa.

"My brother wrote letters back home every week or so but one day the letters stopped coming. My parents were worried but eventually they figured that he was probably just tired what with the hard training and all. My tenth birthday was rolling around the corner and I was officially the youngest guitarist of the Los Loco Chocobos band." His amber eyes seemed to freeze over here. "Then, one night I woke up to a bunch of screaming and smoke. My dad woke me up, told me to carry my two month old sister and run. I ran out the house, with my dad telling to keep running and to not look back. I remember hearing my mom screaming.

I don't exactly remember when it happened, but I think I dropped my sister when I ran into the forest. I didn't even go back for her," He gulped and lowered his head. "I could hear footsteps and there was a cave ahead. I ran into the cave. I reached a gorge at the back and there was nowhere to hide." He stopped, not intending to continue any further.

"And then what?" asked Yuffie with the air of a child that wanted know what happened next in the horror story.

Kaitzer blinked furiously for a moment before continuing. "I turned around and saw it was my brother, covered in red stuff from head to toe. He was laughing and saying stuff I couldn't hear because all of a sudden I was falling backwards. When I woke up," he took in a huge breath. "I was in this weird cavern with a bunch of green water, damp soil and… frozen mako." His amber eyes narrowed. "I remember crying for a long time, thinking I was going to starve down there but somewhere in between consciousness and sleep, I decided I wasn't going to just give up." He lifted his head up and Red thought the boy looked older all of a sudden. "So I tried living off of the green water and swallowing the smaller pieces of frozen mako. It was gruesome the first few weeks but I think in the months that followed, I got used to it."

Yuffie, face contorted in an expression between wonder and disgust, finally asked the question that both her and Red had been thinking. "How long were you down there for?"

"Four years." He replied without much thought.

Red had not been expecting that but before he could say anything, Kaitzer continued. "I… grew very little when I was down there. I think it was the severe mako exposure that stunted me, but who's complaining?" he gave a bitter laugh. "Everybody wants to stay young right?"

Red padded over next to the boy before sitting down on his hind legs. Both boy and beast were shoulder to shoulder when Red spoke, "So what are we going to do now?"

Yuffie who had remained quiet during the last bit of Kaitzer's story shot up and pointed a finger down at him. "So so, how old are you?"

"Almost sixteen."

"B-but you look like you're… you're… an elementary school kid!"

Red coughed.

Yuffie paced back and forth for a few seconds, muttering things to herself before facing the other two. "All right so knocking down walls won't work, how 'bout crawling through the vents?"

Red and Kaitzer exchanged looks before they both stood up.

"If someone could live off of mako for four years then I don't see how we can't get out through there," Red said.

Kaitzer nodded determinedly in agreement before stooping and holding out his hands to hoist Yuffie up to one of the vents. "Okay princess, up and away."

Mud covered orange shoes stomped down onto Kaitzer's face indignantly. "Why thank you."

Red flinched when he saw Yuffie grinding the shoe. "Perhaps I shouldn't have told Kaitzer about Yuffie…"

German turned his back to Cloud and headed back over to Tifa. "So, I escaped. I finally broke out. I ran nonstop for what felt like months." He ran a tongue over his lips, his eyes narrowing as he stepped closer. "I… was… finally home." With eager fingers, he pulled the small knife out of the table and clenched at it tightly with his fist. "My family, they were so overjoyed to see me."

"German!" Cloud shouted pulling at his bonds. He glanced anxiously at his right hand – almost there. Just a bit more… With each frustrated tug, his hand came loose. His attention was turned elsewhere when he heard Tifa gasp. His eyes snapped toward her form on the surgery table. Anger coursed through his body.

German had buried the knife deep into the flesh of Tifa's arm. The martial artist had her teeth clenched tightly together, but her fierce glare was unwavering. German gave the knife a twist and she gasped.

"And with my hands," the madman pulled the knife out, her blood flying off the blade. "I tore them apart." The knife descended once again.

Cloud tore through the bond that held his hand with pure adrenaline fueled by anger and desperation.

"STOP!"

End Chapter

A/N: In case anyone is wondering about this story's title, it means 'bittersweet' in French. This is a short story; only a few more chapters left. Oops, ignore my previous statement please.

Anyway, I'd like to apologize for taking so long. School got me caught up in some things and well, you know.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Prison Break

"D-do you see anything?"

The ninja narrowed her eyes and tried to catch a glimpse between the bars. "Hnnn…nope, can't see a thing."

The teen underneath her groaned and the last of the strength in his thin legs gave out. Kaitzer's knees buckled and with a shriek, Yuffie came crashing down upon him. Red glanced sympathetically at the tangle of arms and legs in front of him before dodging neatly to the side as the bars separating them from the air vent fell down with a clang.

Red opened his mouth to ask if the two teens were alright when a familiar green blob phased through the walls. His jaw immediately snapped shut and lowered his head, preparing to leap at the specter if necessary. The being in question, was hovering motionless in front of them and can only be assumed to be staring at them with its faceless head. Yuffie lifted her head up and glared at it before pushing the Gypsy boy roughly off of her.

"The heck you lookin' at, ya big pile of floating pudding?" Yuffie snarled, getting up on her feet, holding out her fists.

The specter said nothing and proceeded to phase through the opposite wall from which it came from.

"Ow crap, it isn't on to us is it?" Kaitzer rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the other two. He peered at his hand to see if there was any blood before absentmindedly wiping it against the side of his thigh.

Yuffie snorted. "It doesn't have a face, what makes you think it has a brain?"

"Nonetheless, we have to hurry and get out of her before it comes back." The lion picked up the fallen bar with his sharp fangs and tossed it to the side with a flick of his head. "I will go in first."

"Why?"

Red looked at the ninja before tweaking his nose.

"Oh."

Red pulled back his lips and displayed his set of white teeth in a lion's grin before leaping up into the vent. His one good eye took in his surroundings before he carefully made his way forward. Back in the cell, the other two teens can hear the muffled steps of his paws growing distant before they were left with silence. Yuffie held her breath the moment he was out of hearing range.

"Red?" She called out tentatively. When nothing responded to her, she traded a frightened look with Kaitzer before she quickly scrambled onto the boy's offered shoulders and clambered into the green light tinted vent herself. The ninja's first thought was that while the cell itself was humid to the point the moisture in the air was soaking her clothes and causing sweat to gather under her green turtle-neck, the vent was cold. She suppressed a shiver and squinted her eyes to try and get a better look down the vent before venturing in any further. "Red!" She hissed.

"Can you see him?" Kaitzer's voice called; it sounded so far away.

"No I can't see a thing!" Yuffie bit her lips when her whispered reply continued to bounce down the vent. "C'mon, something mighta happened to Red." The girl scrambled her lithe form into the vent and crawled on hands and knees not two feet when she stopped.

Kaitzer, who had heaved himself into the vent after her with much difficulty, turned around and was given a full view of her rear, scrunched his nose and tried to pull his head back into his body like a turtle. "What're you stoppin' fer?"

The ninja looked over her shoulder, her gray eyes locking with his amber orbs. She had her tongue hanging out of her open mouth in the universal gag expression before indicating with her eyes to look down at her right hand. With a pale ash blue eyebrow raised in inquiry, the boy looked down and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"The heck…"

It was the biggest rat he had ever seen – in his life. The little black smudge of fur and Gaia-knows-what-else was the size of a bunny and his long, thick worm-like tale had wrapped itself around Yuffie's wrist. Tightly. The rat's large pointed nose twitched once twitched twice and then skittered up the length of Yuffie's thin arm and came to a rest on her shoulder right next to her face.

Both teens remained silent for a moment before Kaitzer stifled a laugh. "Aw rats. Looks like the little guy as a thing for you, eh princess?"

"Sh…shut up!"

"Hey don't throw that at me!"

* * *

The pain wasn't much but it was all she could do to hold the scream in. He drove the small knife completely into her arm and blood was pooling underneath it, threatening to stain the right side of her white tank top. He gave it a sadistic twist before pulling it back it back out with a rough jerk. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Tifa gave a shrill gasp of pain. Some of the blood flecked onto the front of her shirt and onto her face. She winced and was repulsed. Idiot, it's your own blood, her brain reminded her. Using the breathing exercises that Master Zangan taught her, she slowly closed her eyes and put her mind in a tranquil state. There wasn't a knife-wielding crazy standing over her. She wasn't chained to a surgery table where Gaia-knows how many other girls before her met their doom. She wasn't about to get another extreme acupuncture from knife-wielding crazy. She felt no pain. With each inhale and exhale, the pain receded and all that was left was a numb throb on her arm in between her shoulder and elbow.

"Stop!"

Tifa's eyes snapped open when she heard Cloud roar at German. It took her a moment to refocus her eyes from the blinding surgery light to German's wide-eyed gaze. She lifted her head slightly to see Cloud half hanging on the wall opposite her. He was panting wildly and she felt a cold wave rush down her spine. His mako blue eyes looked like they wanted blood spilt.

"Get. Away. From. Her." He gritted out. With his free hand, he wrenched the chain off the one binding his left. He dropped down onto the floor in a feral crouching position now that the only chains holding him up were unbound.

German, despite his wide-eyed surprised look, took a step forward. He twirled the knife with his thumb and middle finger, successfully adding the blood on the blade to the collection on his lab coat.

"Ah, Ami Cloud, why are you so angry? Tis only a flesh wound; nothing that can't be healed within days," He replied, opening out his arms and cocked his head to the side.

To Cloud, German could have belted out 'Ave Maria' for all he cared. The little movie clip of German sinking the blade into Tifa's arm and twisting it cruelly all the while with a broad happy smile on his face replayed repeatedly in Cloud's mind. It was sickening to see how anyone could find doing that pleasurable.

"Ami Cloud? Is something the matter? You do not look so well." German didn't look or sound sympathetic.

Cloud took a step forward. His heavy mercenary boots creating a loud sound that echoed around the two adjoined rooms.

German took a half step back, most of his weight upon the back foot's heel. He was prepared to wheel around and flee if he needed to. Not that he was a coward or anything but the look in Cloud's eyes could only mean that he might not make it out of this room with all four limbs in tack if he stayed to duke it out. No. He had to leave and re-plan. This Cloud Strife in front of him was nothing like the scrawny _boy_ he befriended six years prior.

Silence reigned on for a few minutes with the exception of Tifa's heavy breathing and the clinking of her chains as she struggled against them. There was a muffled thump overhead that caused Tifa to stop and glanced at the ceiling. Cloud did the same and it was at that precise moment when both the ex-SOLDIER and martial artist had their eyes on the growing noise in the ceiling overhead that German struck. Leaning forward and using his back foot as leverage, he launched himself at the unwary Cloud, the knife held firmly in front of him.

Tifa heard the sudden noise next to her and a warning threatened to rip her throat. "Cl-…"

A rusty metal plate with a large gush down the length of the middle gave away underneath her small hand. Yuffie's mouth changed into the shape of a big 'O' and Kaitzer, with his knees sore with all the crawling in the duct, sighed in exasperation.

"What is it now, princess? Another rat? Because I swear this time if you fling it at me I will-.."

He never had the chance to finish his sentence because at that precise moment, the plate that she had her hand on, which he is also inconveniently on, dropped with a loud clang in the room underneath the vent. What was worse was that Yuffie and Kaitzer followed the plate's example and dropped seven feet onto a rusty unforgiving metal plate and… something fleshy.

Cloud barely had the time to move. His sudden burst of rage towards German was momentarily distracted by the scratching, thumping sounds overhead and by Tifa's would-be warning as well as the sound of somebody moving behind him. With his attention caught on three different things, it was no wonder he never saw the plate dropping on top of him followed by two other heavy things.

It was a wonder that German wasn't prepared for it either. The madman dove right over the two falling teens and rolled to his feet in the other room. He glanced over at his shoulder with a seething look before his eyes fell onto one of the three forms lying in a heap behind him. It picked itself up gingerly, rubbing his head. No doubt the fall was painful. The boy had his back to the man and his amber orbs could clearly take in the image of a large silver cross printed on the back of the coat, as well as a ridiculous bordering of black chocobos. He slid his eyebrow-raising hood back and German's lips twisted into a half maniacal grin and a… hard to identify expression when he caught sight of the messy assortment of ash blue hair.

"Klein Brud," he said simply.

The boy froze. He stood to his feet and turned around, his eyes widening.

Behind him, Cloud knocked the plate off his form, subsequently knocking Yuffie off as well. He caught Tifa's worried expression and spun around to see the two. The two with matching wide, maniacal amber eyes.

Kaitzer opened his mouth, and then closed it thinking that he had nothing to say.

Yuffie groaned in pain and rubbed her bruised backside before she caught whiff of the spiked tension in the room. The young ninja staggered onto her feet when her gray eyes fell onto German's prone form. "Wha? Who the heck is that?"

Little surprise nobody heard her.

German's knife hand twitched before it dropped with a clank on the floor. His younger brother eyed the object on the floor and glanced over his shoulder to catch sight of Tifa's injured arm. His eyes widened further. It was fortunate that Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa couldn't see his entire face: he looked exactly like the madman in front of him.

Then the boy laughed. It was guttural and rising in volume. His shoulder's shook and he tilted his head back. German looked startled, like someone who didn't quite understand the situation.

"Kaitzer?" Yuffie asked questioningly. She didn't understand why her new companion was acting like this. The Wutai princess turned to Cloud for answers but he shushed her with a glance.

They needn't intervene in this. This bitter reunion among brothers.

Kaitzer wiped away at his eyes, a few laughs escaping his lips now and then. "I… I can't believe it. I spent….f-fours in hell and now… now…" He doubled over, his hands clutching at his sides. "Gaia! This is too funny!"

"Kaitzer," Tifa breathed. Her concern and sympathy grew more and more for the boy as he laughed. Her chains clinked together and her brown eyes shot up to see Cloud fiddling with her bonds. He shook his head at her, keeping his face a stoic mask. Soon he had her free and she sat up to see Yuffie unlocking the manacle keeping her legs together with a… bobby pin.

Had they been in a gentler situation Yuffie would've made some smart ass remark but as soon as Tifa was free and Cloud helped her to her feet, being mindful of her injured arm, the ninja only turned around and watched on in silence at the conversation between the two brothers.

"Funny? Klein Brud, perhaps you are not in your right mind." German spoke in the same coldly detached yet polite manner that he used on Tifa.

Kaitzer snorted. "You would know all about it wouldn't you?" When German merely shrugged, Kaitzer took a menacing step forward. "Considering you've lost yours years ago, right German?"

The man's thin, pale lips pulled back into a smirk. "Perhaps."

In a motion all too quick for normal human eyes to see, German brought up his right hand which the others only now noticed had a materia bracelet. Aiming up at the weak ceiling plates above Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa, he fired two quick jet bursts of Blizzard2 spells. It successfully brought down the plates along with a shower of frost. His smirk grew bigger in satisfaction; he quickly made his escape up the spiral staircase. He laughed the deranged laughter of a sadist.

"Catch me if you can, Klein Brud!"

"Kaitzer, no!" Cloud called all the while choking on the sudden gas attack, most probably from a destroyed pipe in the vent. He was too late. The Gypsy boy was already after his older brother.

Coughing and hacking, the three AVALANCHE members managed to stumble out of the gas, breathing deeply at the clean air as soon as they were free. Cloud cursed and was about to take off after the two when he remembered that he still had Yuffie and Tifa to take care of.

"Damn it," he muttered, holding Tifa up. Yuffie stumbled onto her hands and knees next to him.

"Jesus Christ! My eyes hurt!" the ninja bawled, rubbing at it irritably with her finger and only succeeding in agitating it more.

Tifa grabbed Cloud by the front of his shirt. She looked up at him frantically. "Kaitzer ran after German; you have to go after them, Cloud."

The blonde man looked her over worriedly. "But what about you guys? I can't leave you here."

"Don't worry. My arm stopped bleeding. Yuffie and I will be just fine." She glanced at Yuffie who gave a shaky thumb up.

Cloud was silent for a few seconds. Contemplating whether or not he should leave before he realized the more time he wasted thinking about it the more likely that Kaitzer could get injured. Hurriedly, he grabbed Murasame as well as a few materia sitting on the table. With a final nod towards the girls, he ran up the stairs.

"Vincent!"

Tifa spun around at the ninja's cry to see the girl's face and hands pressed to the glass. That's right, she thought, we still have to get Vincent out. But how do they do that? The glass must be inches thick despite its deceptively thin appearance. Her chocolate eyes scanned the room quickly. There had to be something they could use in here… A smile graced her features in triumph when she spotted the table where they're weapons were laid out. Sure that bastard took her gloves but she's still got a few materia. Picking up two glowing warm fire materias, she tossed one to the ninja.

"On the count of three. Ready?"

Yuffie quickly backed away towards the martial artist who had removed the rest of their arsenal and materia off the table and pushed it onto its side, creating a crude blockade to shield the girls from the force of the explosion about to take place. With hand held high, Yuffie squeezed her gray orbs shut and stuck a thin finger in an ear.

"Ready."

Tifa nodded, more to herself than Yuffie as the girl had her eyes shut. She took a breath to calm herself down and without really aiming, held her material up. "One, two… three!"

Red was considering going back to the cell as he navigated the frigid air vents when the plate underneath his paws suddenly started getting really hot. Confused he glanced around him. The entire vent was getting hotter and hotter by the second. He had to get out of here. The red lion forgot all about which way he was going and ran like hell towards a drop three feet in front of him. A bright red flame flashed further down the vent in front of him before he realized it was traveling towards him. Mustering up all the energy in him, the lion leapt into the drop. With his weight and momentum, he easily knocked the vent cover right off and landed on top of a cold, hard surgery table.

Coughing the dust out of his lungs, he pushed himself up and found himself staring at two soot covered figures with their eyes as wide as saucers.

"Tifa?"

"Yes, Yuffie?"

"I think we overdid it a little."

"I think you're right, Yuffie."

Tifa and Yuffie? Red opened his mouth to call out to them when something in the far corner of the room caught his eye. With an aura of pure darkness and malice surrounding him, the Hell Masker stumbled out of its prison. Despite the mask upon its face, one could almost see a hideous smirk from its evil, glowing eyes. The chainsaw was revved and ready; the massacre was about to begin.

* * *

With the others gone off to save Tifa, what is our favorite gun-armed rebel, potty-mouthed pilot and zany toy fortuneteller up to?

"Four."

"Hah! Goldfish!"

"Damn it, ya lyin' sonuva gun, I know ya got a four! Hand it over before I stick my spear in that shit hole ya call yer face!"

"Just try! Don' choke on yer death stick now, Highwind. Wouldn' want that stuffed toy ta give ya mouth-ta-mouth, would ya?"

Cait Sith sighed and threw his cards down. "We should've just stuck with Candyland."

End Chapter.

A/N: I am incredibly sorry for the late update. Part of it was school and part of it was me not liking some parts and changing it. I'm still not completely satisfied but I don't want to keep anyone waiting for too long so I might edit some things later. Much thanks to the person who sent me a reminder. You know who you are. :-) Anyways, this is the next to last chapter and I'm hoping I'll be able to finish the next chapter sooner. Until next time comrades!


End file.
